I remember reading a thread that someone had suggested vending machines as a little cash-cow. I wonder if that person might be able to contact me?? Or anyone with other ideas for small-ish type investments? No sales,marketing or shares though thanks.
Misty1,
Take a look on the Somersoft forums, under Innovative Techniques. There’s an active thread on that over there now (or a reactivated one I should say).
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/index.php
GP
Misty1
A few years ago I bought 2 second hand pinball machines and a pool table for $3600 and placed them in a small suburban diner on a 60/40 split. For the first 6 months they collected an average of $800 pcm.
I now keep them in my games room, they’re great fun after a few ales
Cheers
JeffWhy did u only keep them going for 6mnths,Jeff?
i figure with that sort of turnaround,u would have kept them going as long as poss?[confused2]Melbear? got any comments on this one?? *poke poke poke* *POKE* [biggrin]
kay henry
Yes Miss Kay?
Another member and I have also been discussing vending machines. It looks like he is able to buy one the same as mine for about half price. If he can get a good site, it would easily return his invested money inside of about 6 months – plus he could eat all the lollies he liked and call it a business expense!!
I must say, 10kg of MMs staring me in the face is not such an attractive thought as it was 12 months ago. Suffice to say, I do NOT eat that much of the profits these days…. A couple (of kgs – NOT[biggrin]) of MMs or Skittles a day and I’m fanging for some real food!!
Misty, if you want to contact me – do. Else ‘air the question’ for all to share…
Cheers
MelDepends what you call ‘food’ Rob! My machines have four canisters, that accept 20c, 40c or $1 coins, that give one crank of the handle for a handful of ‘whatever’.
Not the packs of chips, lollies etc.
Cheers
MelNot quite the gumball style (I can have gumballs though) – they tend to only have one type of lolly. I can have 4, 8 or even 12 depending on the machine.
Profitable – yes if you have good locations (of course). The profit level is about 50% on cost of lollies. Of course the prices vary, Jelly Beans are far and away the cheapest and most profitable, MMs and Skittles most expensive and least profitable (but more often the most successful – bugger).
Cheers
MelMy wife and I have four vending machines – (snack and drink machines), but they are managed for us. Pays 20% fixed return on the base cost of the machines. Works out at about an 18% return after costs (ie initial stock, float, insurance). They take care of siting machines. And you can depreciate then over five or six years – so should be no tax for those first five or six years. Machines have an expected life of about 10 years, then another five or six with some work (usually requires a new compressor after about 10 or 12 years). Good reliable income. Other option is to run them yourself – but a good site is critical. The company who runs our machines says their average return is about 30% – if you could not do better than 40 or 50% I don’t think it would be worth your time to run them yourself.
Happy to provide more detail if wanted.
Craig.Sorry Misty1 for the delay in reply – I’ve been shopping!!
No, the pinball machines and pool table collected about $800 pcm for the first 6 months and then the income began to decline. The method is to have a number of sites and you just move the machines to new locations.
I moved over to the coast and the Diner changed hands so just took the machines back.
Cheers
JeffThanx for replies everyone. An offer for one where i wk came up,but not sure it’s a good idea where i work (“mates” might expect freebies),so was just checking for thoughts.
i remember being quite taken by a chap called David Green at rpvending
at a stall at the investing expo at darling harbour last year. Not that i had ever considered vending machines in my life, but it seemed like not a bad thing to do if you had a spare few k.
15 k gets you about 5 vending machines and they site them for you in small to medium business. basically coke has the unis, railways etc sown up and their market is the rung just underneath the one underneath coke.I even went to a spiel with a friend, thinking I might put up the money and he’d work the machines (they said only 1 day a week to refill, and they site them for you within ten min of your home) – but in the end it sounded like a ‘job’ not really a passive investment. Still, the returns seemed ok with 50percent returns seeming doable (free machines in year 3, and they last for 10-15 years. they teach you how to repair, and the major repairs are guaranteed for 2 years.
the other thing he mentioned was that in the end it came down to the person. the more the vending machine guy or girl liased with the business and had people skills, the more loyalty was built up and the more sales – plus if you customised the stock…you could be on to a good thing.
in the end it just wasn’t what i saw myself doing with my life, and i didn’t want to be stuck with vending machines if my friend got sick of it.
in the end he decided to look for some second hand ones and place them himself. of course he didn’t do that either. So in a way RP vending is good because they do all of that for you.
plus i liked the guy. i mean, he was just a regular guy with a vending machine business, but he was somehow PASSIONATE about them!
they were in the woop woops of sydney somewhere, St Leonards or something, i don’t remember.cheers-
minijoy to the world
i forgot to add– you know what i did with the 15 grand instead of buying a vending machine or five?
i bought a house for 16K. it cost a bit more cause I did it up and now it’s rented for 95 per week. It’s going great, though. 20 percent return and fully managed, so truly a passive income which has also increased in capital gain by about 50 percentin a year.!
joy to the world
Hi all
Vending machines is something that has crossed my mind also. Reasonable outlay for reasonable return.
Some concerns that immediately came to mind was
Vandalism
cost of insurance (given the risk)
are they alarmed?
Where does one buy the stock is it a bulk arrangement and who organises it yourself or company?
What expenses does one have in total?
Cheers
alfMy partner & I have a company that fills & maintains drink vending machines on contract.
We currently have 340 machines, but have had up to 800 in the past.Its all about location. Our top placed machines do over 20,000 units a year, but its a cut-throat business when it comes to placements. Anything selling under 2400 units a year is unworthy. Theres also a high percentage of vandalism with some sites.
We’ve been doing this for six years, so if anyone needs advice, don’t hesitate.
Cheers.
Hi Mortgage Advisor,
We don’t own the machines, we do filling & maintenance on contract. We own the trucks[biggrin]The reason we only do 340 now is we needed a life[laughing]. 800 was full on.
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